New Toon On A New Server – What To Do?

As of late I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to how to best maximize opportunity when you create a new character on a new server. This is based entirely on no heirlooms and no plans to transfer a character either.

The first thing I always do on a new server is select Enchanting as one of my Professions. There is easy money to be made and for the most part if you can level it as you go it isn’t very difficult to maintain. Also, you now have an option for that BoE gear that lacks useful stats and isn’t worth keeping for any type of transmogrification value.

I’ve taken Tailoring as my other profession on occasion because let’s face it, bags are awesome. But that’s something I realize a secondary character can have. Instead, I suggest a gathering profession. In sheer coincidence two of my top three toons are Enchanting and Herbalism. Picking herbs as you go along is as easy as mining would be. Sure mining gives you the bonus of also being able to smelt bars should they be worth more than the ore on said server. But, at this stage of the game, I would bypass both in favour of Skinning.

The funny thing is, I never create Skinners. I have one out of over twenty toons but I would change that now. First off, the boost from the profession is great for dps -even casters. Also, using myself as an example I’ve highlighted the real reason it’s a good idea now. No one is skinning. Leather prices are pretty high from start to finish, so here’s a chance to capitalize on it.

So we have Skinning and Enchanting as our Professions, but that is putting the cart before the horse. We need a race and class. Honestly, your race is entirely your own decision. However, off the top of my head the only race that won’t work is a Tauren and you’ll see why in a moment.

The first class I considered was a Rogue. Being on a server with a few Horde toons and not having a Rogue when on my Alliance server I have an 85 one is killing me with every lockbox I get. There is money to be made there and in that same train of thought there are plenty of locked chests out in Azeroth. However, after I thought this through I realized for the average person Rogues are actually difficult to play. Also, while the lockpicking is handy, there’s a better choice here.

As you’re leveling, you’re probably either PvPing, dungeoning, or questing. Okay, truth be told you have to be doing one of the three. If questing is your choice method, then you’re traveling a great deal. Sure, the mount tiers are available earlier than ever, but there’s still a better way. In fact, even with flying mounts and top speed there is another method folks seek out: Mage ports.

Indeed, a Mage is the best choice for your first toon on a new server. Travel is a no brainer. When you start learning to Teleport to the various cities (and subsequently Portals as well), you can set your hearth in a completely different location (such as the town near your current quest area) and you reduce travel speed and quest time and level faster. And Mage Portals bring in a pretty penny.

In a dungeon, playing a Mage is not terribly difficult -especially at low level. We’re not talking end game here, since this is a new character. So as long as you learn the basics you’ll be fine. We’ll not even comment on PvP. There are far too many players that see my Frost Mage and vow to kill him on the spot. A lot. Once in a while they succeed, too.

So a Mage with Skinning and Enchanting is the combination I would recommend if you’re creating a new character on a new server (and now you can see why I said Tauren wouldn’t work for the race). Not only is it a good class for leveling, time wise, but this combination allows you a relatively easy means of generating gold as you level. Add in Cooking, as you should for every low level character these days for the daily quest xp, and you’ll be laughing.

Related

Posts navigation

9 comments on “New Toon On A New Server – What To Do?”

There is a reason I consistently pick hunters. They are incredibly easy to play and very durable, and will do decent dps even in the hands of the most inexperienced whilst levelling.

I’d argue that you are best set taking two gathering professions from the get go, if only as a way to earn yourself money for mounts and to buy bags. I’d say skinning and mining on my server is pretty much a given right now, and is likely to earn you not only enough money to buy Epic Flying at 70 if you require, but a decent selection of sparkly mounts along the way.

Once you get to 85 and have a decent nest egg, I’d say going back and levelling summat like Enchanting is probably an easier task as you can overpower the content :P

Leather might sell pretty well, but skinning is a pain in the ass to level up compared to herbalism or mining. Low level herbs and ore have been great gold makers for me on new servers. You can gather as you go without having to go out of your way to grind skinnable mobs, and gathering from the nodes gives you bonus XP. I’d choose herbalism and mining over skinning anyday.

I think it’s much better to start off with two gathering professions, since crafting profs are pretty much guaranteed to cost you gold to level. You suggest enchanting so you can DE unneeded gear, but enchanting tends to cause you to lose gold. Enchanters will feel pressured to DE everything they can, so they’ll be disenchanting the BoE greens they come across. BoE greens are actually a pretty steady cash flow on the AH, especially with the advent of transmog. And regardless of how much you disenchant as you level, you are not likely to find enough mats on your own to keep up with your enchanting. (Especially since the leveling process is so quick nowadays — even without heirlooms or guild perks.) Enchanting also has irritating stretches where it’s tough to find the mats to get the next few points. You have to worry about obtaining enchanting rods, which can be quite expensive. This means that Enchanters are going to need all the mats they can get just to level their own profession, leaving very little left over to sell on the AH. I’ve also found that the scrolls you make while leveling enchanting sell very poorly, since every other leveling enchanter is making them too and the AH is flooded with them.

The first thing you should do on a new server is actually roll a DK. Questing through the DK starting zone will quickly net you a few gold from quest rewards. More importantly, DKs come with decent-sized bags and make excellent bank toons. You can also use the much higher level DK to help grind out mats if you need them for a crafting profession. (Like, make the DK the skinner and go around massacring low level mobs for leather. Much faster than doing it with a toon at level.) DKs are also a great choice if you want to do any fishing on a new server, because Path of Frost (which you get at level 61) is totally OP for fishing.

I agree that Mages are really handy for getting around, and are probably the most convenient class to play. (Free food? Why yes, thank you!) But if it’s not the class that you want to play, then you’re not going to be happy on your new server.

So, uh…. I guess I completely disagree with you on this topic, JD. Sorry about that. XD

Interesting thoughts. I keep considering how I’m going to level my new toon when I get my 11th slot come mists. Maybe I’ll try a pandaren mage (after Gurdrid gets to 90, and all of my profs are maxed again – that should clear out the starting zones.)
I frequently try and run my new toons quite bare-bones in terms of getting a head start – usually just bags, and maybe 5g. But maybe I’ll try out the idea of not giving my Panda any boosts at all (except being in the guild. I can’t help it, I’m just too loyal)